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Thursday, December 13, 2012

DIY Cake Stand

Pinterest is both an enemy to productivity and a catalyst for it. It's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I love it and hate it. We're hot and cold. We're frenemies. You get what I'm sayin'?Because Pinterest simultaneously makes me feel inadequate because of my poorly decorated apartment and mediocre makeup skills but also leads me to believe that I can make anything for $2 and have six pack abs. (<< not that naive). I'm a constant roller coaster of emotions. Just when I think I'm wasting my time looking at kitchens the size of my whole apartment, I find a little gem like a DIY Cake Stand Tutorial. The world's ok again. I can do this, guys. You can too. Clear eyes, open hearts, can't lose. I've been watching too much Friday Night Lights. Let's begin. Your tools:

Acrylic Paint and Gloss Varnish. I used the cheap stuff. I believe these were on sale at Michael's for less than a dollar. Some acrylic paints even have the gloss built into the formula. Save yourself a buck and buy that kind. Don't be a sucker like me.

Craft glue and sandpaper. Now, I know nothing about this glue. But the package said it works on ceramic, wood, glass and a bunch of other stuff so I went for it. And sure enough, it worked!

Paintbrushes! Also the cheap kind. Are you sensing a trend here? I had these on hand for several other projects but they sell them cheap at Michael's. You can really get away with using one brush here, especially if your paint has a built-in gloss.

Candlestick. Now, I had to do a little something weird because you'll notice the top of this candlestick had a brass ring that I was afraid would keep the plate off balance. So I found some weird hollow wooden thing that I glued on top of the candlestick to make a flat surface. Clearly, I love over-complicating things so if you were smart, you'd just find a flat candlestick. Of course, cheap materials here too. Probably about $3 total. Because I was using a wooden candlestick, I sanded it down just a bit to make sure it was easy to paint. Then paint!

I did two even coats of color, waited for it to dry, and then did one coat of gloss. When the gloss is dry, you can glue the candlestick to the the center of the plate, with the lip of the plate facing downward (see pics below). I wasn't suuppperr precise in centering the candlestick but everything turned out just fine. You probably don't want your cake toppling over so just take a little time to make sure the candlestick is as close the the center of the plate as possible. I then let the plate sit face down while the glue cured.Because terra cotta and wood are pretty porous, the glue cured within about 2 hours. However, it certainly wouldn't hurt to even let it cure overnight, especially if you decide to use different materials. And voila!

Your cake stand is ready to have apples stacked on it for some reason! Overall, this was an inexpensive and easy project and I'm super pleased with the results. Once painted, you can't tell the difference between the terra cotta and wood and this has opened the doors for a lot of variations. So have at it gurl! Thanks Pinterest!